Audio Drivers

As with many PC components, an audio driver is the progam that provides a vital link between an audio adapter (also called a sound card) and the application or operating system that is using it. Each sound card or audio adapter has its own driver, created by the manufacturer of the audio device. The driver communicates to the computer and the audio device and works much like a translator. This way, the audio device knows what the computer is requesting it to do, and the computer knows what the audio device is doing and what it is capable of doing.

In the MS-DOS era, software applications that were created for the computer (computer games for example) required their developers to develop direct hardware support for numerous models and brands of audio cards. So if the application did not include support for that particular audio device, there was a good chance that it would not work properly or at all.

Microsoft eliminated this worry with their invention of DirectX, so that sound card developers were assured that their products would work with recent and current versions of Windows. Windows basically uses DirectX to communicate to audio cards in a more direct manner than normal Windows drivers do. This not only improves performance, but frees the software developer from the need to change the program to work with different devices.

Now, a game developer only needs to work with the DirectX sound engine, instead of each individually manufactured type of audio device. In fact, in 2002, Microsoft unveiled its Universal Audio Architecture (UAA) which was created to standardize the audio hardware and audio class driver architecture for devices used with Microsoft windows operating systems. Three classes of audio devices are supported by default, IEEE1394 (FireWire), USB, and Intel High Definition Audio which supports PCI and PCI Express. Beginning with Windows Vista, the Windows logo program requirements state that any computer shipped with Vista must include an audio device that is UAA compliant that works without additional drivers.

There are several devices and applications that use audio device drivers. This is just a partial list of some that require the use of an audio driver: 3D sound and audio acceleration for gaming; DVD movies using Dolby 5.1 and higher decoding; Voice commands; Creating MIDI files, creating MP3 files and other compressed sound files; Creating WAV files; and, Creating CD audio files.

On Windows operating systems that were created earlier than Vista, incorrect or missing audio drivers could cause anything from incorrect or no sound to total system crashes. Probably the most common Windows error message is one that states that the system is looking for a PCI Multimedia Audio device (which means its looking for audio device drivers). If it cannot find the driver the file may be corrupt, missing, or outdated. The best way to ensure you have the latest audio device driver is to update to the latest audio drivers.

Note: Individual drivers may be available on manufacturer websites at no charge. Driver Whiz is a driver update service that will scan your computer for suitable drivers and provide them in an easy, convenient method. Driver Whiz registration is $29.95 USD for 1-year subscription. Driver Whiz provides advanced scanning of your computer system. After a system scan has been performed all users will be provided the option to update out-of-date or missing drivers. Updating drivers is provided at a charge while scanning is provided at an unlimited basis.